3 Overwatch Changes That Left Fans Mystified

Overwatch is celebrating its third anniversary this year, a remarkable achievement for a game as popular as Overwatch. With all that history, it's even more remarkable the game has had as few catastrophic changes as it has. Still, there have been bumpy moments along the road. Here are three Overwatch changes that left players utterly mystified.

1. Mercy Rework, or, Valkyrie Introduction

Mercy's original ultimate ability allowed her to resurrect her entire team instantly, completely swinging a fight that her team had ostensibly lost. The ability's power was completely unmatched in the game, and it was as easily executed as it was powerful.

Everyone knew Mercy needed a rework, but what the developer finally introduced left fans confused. Valkyrie let Mercy fly, gave her massively increased healing and damage boosting, and made her an all-around force to be reckoned with. The ability was nearly as abusable as Resurrect, especially since it still allowed her to revive two players instantaneously.

It took Blizzard several patches to tone down Mercy's power, with players scratching their heads all the while.

2. Roadhog Nerf

Roadhog has suffered two major tragedies in his life. The first was a change that made his hook easier to break (everyone but Roadhog mains liked this change). The second dropped Hog's damage in favor of an increased rate of fire.

This change was more poorly received. Roadhog could no longer hook and kill instantly most DPS heroes, massively reducing his ability to flank and his usefulness in most compositions.

Roadhog eventually found a place in the meta game, but the change remains one of the most widely disparaged in Overwatch's history.

3. Ironclad Bastion

Bastion has always been a niche pick, largely because of his lacking mobility. Blizzard, in an attempt to make him more widely viable, introduced a new passive in February 2017 called Ironclad. This ability made Bastion take 35% less damage from all sources while in Configuration: Tank or Sentry.

The effects were immediate and dramatic. Sentry Bastion became nearly unkillable, as his damage resist let him shrug off enough damage that he could be healed through some of the most devastating attacks in the game.

Blizzard quickly walked back the change, dropping the resistance to 20% within a week, but fans wonder to this day why such a ridiculous change ever made it to live servers in the first place.

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Photo courtesy of Blizzard